Method of making latch-needles



(NoMQaeL F. R. WO ODWARD.

I METHOD 0? MAKING LATCH NEEDiIES- No. 259,969. Patented June 2091882,.

N. FETERS. PhuW-Liflwgnphcn Washington D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK R. WOODWARD, OF BILL, NEW HAMPSBIRE.

METHOD OF MAKING LATCH-NEEDLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 259,969, dated June 20,1882. Application filed February 21, 1882. (No model.)

.Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in theManufacture of Latch- Needles for Knitting-Machines, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

Heretofore latch-needles for knitting-ma.

chines have been provided with a lug to which the latch is pivoted byreducing the thickness of the wire of which the needle is formed aboveand below the point at which the latch is to be pivoted. This method ofproviding the needles with the required lug and jaws is verylaboriousandexpensive; and the objectof my invention is to make the needles in asimpler manner, whereby they can be made much more rapidly at a reducedcost and of thinner wire.

The invention consists in upsetting the wire from which the needle ismade a short distance from. the end, whereby a log will he formed towhich the latch of the needle can be pivoted.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure l is a longitudinal side elevation of a latch-needle blank madeaccording to my improved method. Fig. 2is a longitudinal elevation of alatch-needle made according to my improved method, at right anglestoFig. 1.

A wire, A, is tapered or pointed at its end,

O, on the edge of the wire, as shown. The tapered part of the Wire isthen bent to form a hook, D. The lug or projection is provided with alongitudinal cut or slit in its edge,

whereby two jaws, G, will be formed, between which jaws the latch E, ofthe usual construction, is pivoted, this latch reaching over the lowerend of the hook D, as shown in Fig. 2. If the needle is constructed inthis manner, thinner wire can be used than has been used heretofore, asnone of the wire need be filed off to'produce the lug 0, and the needlecan be produced much more rapidly, as upsetting the wire requires butvery little time in comparison to the time required to file ofi aconsiderable part of the thickness of the wire. By filing off part ofthe wire the same is weakened, whereas I strengthen the wire byupsettingit.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- The improvement in the method of making latch-needlesfor knitting-machines, which consists in upsetting at a short distancefrom the pointed end the wire from which the needle is being made, andthus forming a log for the attachment of the latch, as described.

FRANK R. WOODWARD.

Witnesses:

FRANK PROGTOR, J. A. TAYLOR.

